9 February 2011
When Alec Issigonis penned the original Mini in the late '50's in the wake of the Suez crisis, his brief had been primary to build an economical small car to compete with bubble cars, which were popular in the day.
The brilliant little car he came up with was certainly economical, and due to its funky modern design, it gained cult status and became popular with a hip generation of the swingin' sixties.
Staying in production until the late '90's, by which time BMW owned Mini-makers, Rover Group, the last old Mini rolled out of the British Longbridge plant in 1999.
When BMW famously sold Rover back to the British for ten quid in 2000, they saw the potential of retaining the Mini brand, so kept it out of the deal. The new MINI that BMW had on the drawing board offered leading edge 21st Century technology, while holding onto the best bits of the old Mini DNA.
The new MINI still retains the youthful character of its predecessor, and like the old Mini, it still attracts a style conscious buyer with its chic, fashionable appeal.
That it has a wealth of features such as ABS brakes, Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD) with Brake Assist, Automatic Stability Control + Traction (ASC+T), ISOFIX child seat attachments and achieves a 5 Star NCAP safety rating, ensures that it ticks all the safety boxes that are pre-requisites today.
And where Issigonis's Mini drove like a bone-shaking go-kart, BMW's MINI retains the go-kart feel, but sheds the bone-shaking factor. In true BMW fashion, the ride is firm and handling is predictable and sure-footed. It's fun in every way.
As for practicality, it's a small hatchback with limited cargo space, but it's a great little city commuter, with enough room for the groceries.
For reasons best known to BMW, the MINI is not sold throughout the entire BMW dealer network, but only a few select outlets in metropolitan centres.
Being a small economical and nippy hatchback, the largest growing market segment at present, the question must be asked whether or not this is the right strategy for growth of the MINI brand. But who are we to argue with one of the few profitable car makers in the world today?
So, the new MINI is fun, safe, trendy and economical. But with all car manufacturers chasing the green dollar and searching for better fuel consumption, more efficiency and lower emissions, BMW's latest oil burning MINI gets even more lean, mean and green.
Back in '59, diesel engines were big, noisy, dirty and slow. And the Cooper badge which appeared a couple of years later implied performance. Polar opposites in fact.
But in 2009, things are very different. The torque of a modern diesel is a delight, offerimg frugal fuel consumption that's easy on the wallet and cares for the environment.
BMW has now gone a step further with its EfficientDynamics programme, introducing Stop Start technology, which makes the Cooper D even more frugal in congested city traffic. With an engine that stops at the traffic lights, there's no fuel wastage by sitting idle.
Producing 80kW at 4000rpm and torque of 240Nm of torque at 1750rpm, the six speed manual MINI Cooper D is a lively enough performer and fuel consumption of just 3.9L/100km and CO2 emissions of 104g/km will please the bank manager and the environmentalists.
Priced from $40,900 the MINI Cooper D isn't the cheapest little car around, but it does have that exacting BMW build quality and it emulates the spirit of the original British take on the people's car.
We can only ponder on what Sir Alec would think of a Mini with a diesel engine and a Cooper badge. Given a few minutes in the drivers seat, we reckon he'd approve.